Here's one showing three of the children who's lives Irena saved, Michal Glowinski, Piotrus Zysman, and Elzbieta Koppel.

I don't know when or where the photo was taken. Piotr, in the middle, was four years old when he was sneaked out of the Warsaw Ghetto. I first told Elzbieta's story here.At that time I didn't know I'd later be invited to work on a book about Irena.

The photo below of Irena and an unidentified child is courtesy of the Museum of Polish Jews.

Courage was rooted deep in Irena's family. During the January Uprising in 1863, which started as a protest by young Poles against conscription into the Imperial Russian Army, Irena's great grandfather's small estate was headquarters for the insurgents near Kalisz in central Poland.

The Russians put down the Polish-Lithuanian rebels, executed many and deported others to Siberia, including Irena's maternal great grandfather Karol Grzybowski. He died after a year of hard labor manacled to a wheeled cart.

Irena was greatly influenced by her father, Stanislaw Krzyzanowski's political activities and compassion for the poor, which is detailed in the book. During a typhoid epidemic in their local area, Irena's father was the only doctor who would treat those suffering the illness. He ended up catching the disease himself and dying when Irena was a young child.

Little wonder, Irena would later risk her life posing as a nurse to enter the Jewish Ghetto carrying medicine and food for the sick and starving. (Photograph courtesy of www.chabad.org & The Jewish Women.org)

Above, Irena Sendler rides in a parade in Warsaw in 1948. (Courtesy Of The Irena Sendler Project) You might think that she would remain a celebrity for her humanitarian deeds, but after World War II when Poland fell to the Communists, Irena was persona non grata like others who had supported or fought for Polish Independence.

Author

I'm an award-winning author of Children's/YA books and former journalist with a passion for stories about people facing adversity with courage. My books have been named Notable Social Studies Book for Young People, SPUR Award for Best Juvenile Fiction about the American West, Bank Street College List of Best Children's Books, and NY Public Library Best Books for Teens. My journalistic work has received numerous awards for excellence from the Society of Professional Journalists and two Emmy nominations.